Drawing Commission: RHA Annual Show 2023

Client: Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin

Dates: 22 May 2023 - 8 August 2023

Category: Drawing

This drawing was made in response to the invitation extended to plattenbaustudio by the RHA to exhibit as part of their Annual Show (2023) and was also published within the 193rd RHA Annual Catalogue.

https://rhagallery.ie/rha-annual/

Like molecular clouds photographed in space, or atoms viewed under a microscope, the solidity of our world is called into question just by zooming far enough in, or far enough out. The things we perceive to be solid, permanent fixtures surrounding us are the sum of an infinite number of smaller parts, including the buildings that house our daily lives.

In this drawing, the concept of liminality is used to break down all of the constituent elements needed to construct a single family home until the space in-between becomes apparent; every block, tile, timber and truss is pulled apart before zooming out until all of the matter needed to construct domestic space is itself lost in a cloud of components. The drawing uses a new-build family home currently under construction by the architects to the north of Berlin (House in Rittgarten) as its case study. In it, the use of the Earth’s resources is quantified; the drawing illustrates the total amount of matter required to create the internal space of a domestic building.